MeriTalk's Fed IT Customer Satisfaction Study Shows NASA SEWP IV King of the Hill

Government IT community MeriTalk has just released the results of its “Federal IT King of the Contracts” study, the first report of Federal IT buyers’ perceptions of government-wide IT product and service contract vehicles.

The report is based on a study of 160 Federal IT professionals and contracting officers. As per this study, NASA SEWP IV is declared as the leading contract.

 

The NASA Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) IV contract vehicle offers the latest in Information Technology (IT) products and services, and is said to have an outstanding track record of serving up fresh technology for federal agencies.

SEWP is a Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) consisting of 38 Competed Prime Contract Holders, including 21 small businesses of which nine are Veteran-Owned Businesses, six of which are SDVOSB (Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses; and several non-competed 8(a) Set-Aside Contractors. These contracts offer a vast selection and wide range of advanced technology to all Federal Agencies (including Department of Defense) and their authorized contractors.

 

SEWP is said to provide low prices, the lowest surcharge and the easiest and fastest ordering procedure using pre-competed contracts.

 

As stated in the King of the Contracts report, the Top 10 in the King of the Contracts report include; NASA SEWP IV – 93 percent approval rating, GSA (News - Alert) 8 STARS – 86 percent approval rating, Army ITES-2H – 85 percent approval rating, GSA Answer – 81 percent approval rating, GSA Connections – 79 percent approval rating, VETS – 79 percent approval rating, GSA SmartBuy – 78 percent approval rating, DISA Encore Information Technology Solution – 77 percent approval rating, GSA Millennia Lite – 77 percent approval rating and NIH CIO-SP2i with 77 percent approval rating.

 

In addition to the contract ratings, the report also offers fresh insight on how agencies can improve their performance ratings. The study reveals a paradox between buyers’ wants and behaviors. Just 21 percent of respondents say they report past-performance information on their experience, but 80 percent want access to past-performance metrics. DoD leads in this area, reporting past performance twice as often as its civilian agency counterparts.

 

Looking one layer deeper, many Feds question the number of government-wide IT product and service purchasing vehicles – 50 percent of defense and 39 percent of civilian respondents say there are too many. That said, Fed IT buyers appreciate GWACs – 57 percent note that GWACs offer quicker access to new technology than GSA Schedule 70. In addition, they note that GWACs help foster healthy competition and provide a broader variety of products to the government.

 

While GSA Schedule 70 ranked just below the top 10 contracts, a majority of Federal IT buyers (73 percent) who use Schedule 70 say it provides strong value in helping them procure leading-edge products and services.

 

MeriTalk is also reportedly host a Webinar focused on the survey on June 24, 2009. Steve O’Keeffe, founder of MeriTalk, will moderate the Webinar.

 

MeriTalk is a community site developed as a partnership among the Federal Business Council; Federal Employee Defense Services; Federal Managers Association; GovLoop; National Treasury Employees Union; New Ideas for Government; United Service Organizations; and WTOP/WFED radio.